The present invention relates to suture or surgical anchors and methods for installing same in tissue. In particular, the present invention relates to a suture anchor for anchoring a second tissue such as soft tissue to a first tissue such as bone without requiring the tying of a knot in the suture which attaches the second tissue to the first tissue. In situations where ligaments or other soft tissue are being sutured to bone, a suture anchor is commonly employed. The anchor is inserted into a borehole in the bone and a suture extending from the anchor is attached to the soft tissue to be secured to the bone. A knot must then be made in the suture. Alternatively, the suture may be attached to the tissue prior to insertion of the anchor into the bone borehole. In this case also, a knot must be made in the suture to tie the tissue to the anchor. Often, due to tight clearances, particularly in arthroscopic surgery, it is difficult to manipulate the sutures to tie the knot. The present invention relates to a method and device using a suture anchor to attach soft tissue to bone or other tissue which allows the soft tissue to be secured without tying a knot.
The present invention may use modified forms of anchors such as the Mini Mite™ or Ultrafix® anchors of Linvatec Corporation of Largo, Fla.
As described above, a problem with many known suture anchors is that the sutures must be tied to the soft tissue to be secured to the bone. This entails tying knots in the sutures after they have been threaded through the soft tissue. It would be advantageous to provide a suture anchor and method wherein the need to tie suture knots is eliminated. There is a need for a suture anchor which eliminates the need to tie a knot in the suture to secure the suture to the soft tissue and thus the soft tissue to the bone.
Although the above discussion has been made in the context of securing soft tissue to bone tissue, the invention is equally applicable to the securement of various type tissues to each other and also to securement of prosthetic and/or man-made or replacement tissues to other tissue.
A number of patents which eliminate knotting of sutures are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,329 to Fung et al. shows a suture collet. This reference shows a device which takes the place of a knot. However, it does not teach or suggest a suture anchor which can be used to attach soft tissue to bone tissue without tying a knot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,902,321 to Caspari et al. shows a connector wherein a suture is secured between an outer and an inner member. Similar to Fung et al., Caspari et al. shows a suture securing device which replaces a knot.
Another reference is U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,492 to Jacobs which shows a suture clamping device which replaces a knot.
None of these references show a suture anchoring device which provides a knotless means to secure soft tissue to the suture anchor and thus to the tissue into which the suture anchor is installed. Further, although these devices show knotless suture clamping means, the use of these devices themselves is cumbersome and often presents the same problems encountered in tying a suture knot, particularly in arthroscopic applications.
Other known patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,948,000 and 5,948,001 to Larson. These patents show a suture anchor in which the suture is disposed between a setting pin and a socket. However, there is no suggestion of a knotless securement of the suture to the tissue to be attached to the suture anchor in these references.
Another suture anchor is shown in McDevitt, U.S. Pat. No. 5,814,071. In this device the suture is tied to a suture retainer of the suture anchor but there is no teaching or suggestion of knotless securement of tissue to be attached to the suture anchor.
Steiner, U.S. Pat. No. 6,221,107, shows a device for ligament fixation in which ligament strands are held by a clamping action. However, this reference does not teach or suggest a knotless securement of a suture to a suture anchor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,156,039 to Thal shows knotless suture securement using a snagging member in which a snagger recess snags a snagger stopper means prior to insertion of the anchor into the bone mass thereby to secure tissue to the bone mass. U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,017 to Thal is similar. U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,574 to Thal shows a snagging anchor which is received in a hollow anchoring means thereby to allow tissue to be secured to other tissue. Although these patents show knotless securement of the suture back on the anchor itself, they provide a very cumbersome means for securing the suture to the anchor. After the suture has been threaded through the tissue to be attached to the bone, it must be snagged by the snagging member, which is often difficult to do, particularly in the tight confines of arthroscopic surgery.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,149,669, 6,129,762, 6,022,373, 5,843,127, 5,645,589, 5,690,649 and 5,741,300 show various patents of Lehmann K. Li which are exemplary of suture anchors of the type which may be employed by modifying them for use with the present invention. However, none of those references teach or suggest a suture anchor employing a means for knotlessly securing the soft tissue to the tissue in which the anchor is secured. U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,669 shows a type of “button anchor” which utilizes a button or washer member secured to the anchor by suture to hold tissue in place. It also shows spanning sutures connected to plural suture anchors to secure tissue to bone. However, the requirement of a button/washer member or plural anchors may preclude these devices from a number of applications.
Accordingly, there is a need for a suture anchor which allows a first tissue to be knotlessly secured to the suture anchor thereby to secure the first tissue to second tissue in which the suture anchor is installed.